Brain Science – mapping the landscape of the brain and neuroscience research

Brain Science – mapping the landscape of the brain and neuroscience research

In a report published recently “Brain Science – mapping the landscape of the brain and neuroscience research”, brain and neuroscience research conducted over the period 2009-2013 has been mapped. The 64-page report includes key figures of the current research and interviews with Professors working in the area, including Nobel Prize winner Professor Susumu Tonegawa. The report points out that around 1.79 million brain and neuroscience research articles were published in the period, representing 16% of the world’s total publication output of scientific articles. Furthermore, the study found that researchers in the fields of brain and neuroscience are very multidisciplinary as 59.5% of the 1.73 million active brain and neuroscience researchers could be classified as multidisciplinary, while only 5.8% had never published anything outside of the area throughout their research career. The study also showed that the most highly recurring concepts within the theme of disorders were: stroke, depression, neoplasms and Alzheimer’s disease.

In terms of geographical repartition, the study found that more than 70% of the articles were written by researchers with European or American nationality, while the top contributing single nations were respectively: the US, the UK, China, Germany and Japan. However, this was seen as likely to change in the future, as China is the country with the highest annual average growth. Currently, China’s research output contribute with 11.6% of all brain research and 7.5% of all neuroscience research.